AHC: Peerless Air Ministry

[Jules]

Sir Philips last stop of the day was at the QF site and AA battery to the south of the city. There sight of the blasted wood left little to the imagination regarding the destructive power of the large German Luftmines.

I think I smell cookies.

 

[steamboy]

Excellent stuff as always, I can't recall was there a break down between RAF/Luftwaffe losses TTL compared to OTL?

 

[sonofpegasus]

I did a rough summary based on 'off the top of my head' proportional calculations. RAF -10% on all casualties. plus 10% more pilots due to earlier training expansion. Less RAF casualties due to better tactics, self sealing tanks, more Spitfires and no turreted Defiants. Luftwaffe 10% more casualties during the day battle due to better RAF tactics, better armament and cannon armed single seat Defiants, Luftwaffe night losses, % wise way higher ITTL because in OTL there were very few night fighter success in 1940. Numbers are still only single figures per night ITTL but that is still a significant changes.

 

[Baker Easy]

Shouldn't there be a snowball effect in loss rates as well? Lower losses implies more aircraft and pilot availability as well as higher average pilot experience, and higher availability rates due to less airfield damage, while the Luftwaffe must generate smaller or fewer sorties with less experienced pilots. That should be biting as deep as any technical changes.

 

[sonofpegasus]

Quantify such a growing loss rate is rather beyond my statistical skill. Yes there will be a cumulative effect and that is for the Luftwaffe bombers being partly seen in there being more reliance ITTL on a small highly trained marker force. Hence the significance of the losses to KGR 100. Due to RL I will be taking a break from research for a week but still hope to put up at least one story post.

 

[unknownchild]

nice keep up the good work

 

[sonofpegasus]

11.11. They who contol the Sea controlsthe World.

Maritime Command.

In order o carry out the myriad tasks assigned to this command the requirement was for a wide variety of aircraft.

In the long range maritime patrol role were the following types:-

Short Sunderland, flyingboat, Short Stirling, land plane. Blackburn B20, seaplane/flyingboat. Supermarine Stranraer, flyingboat Consolidated Catalina, flyingboat

Medium range Maritime patrol aircraft.

Vickers Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Supermarine Walrus, De Haviland Flamingo, Lockheed Hudson. Dutch Fokker TVIII float planes.

Strike Aircraft,

Blackburn Shark, Fairey Swordfish (on loan from FAA). Bristol Beauforts.



What was immediately apparent to Sir Hugh was the lack of offensive aircraft to carry out attacks on enemy shipping, whilst all the patrol aircraft were armed this was primarily with anti submarines weapons. Whilst he Beaufort was a competent torpedo carrying aircraft it was limited in its weapon load and lacked the speed and manoeuvrability to survive in contested airspace. Further due to the commitment of Bristol aircraft to the production of the Blenhiem and the Beaufighter, as well as the fact the the Alvis Pelides had to be substituted for the Bristol Taurus, when that engine was cancelled, the Beaufort had been seriously delayed into production and was now very much a Cinderella aircraft in regard to the allocation of production resources. In the short term a substitute aircraft was required to make up the numbers until a dedicated maritime strike aircraft was available.

Sir Hugh noted that the performance of the Hadley Page Hampden was not far off that of the Beaufort and also that the Torpedo school at Gosport and Lee on the Solent had recently finished torpedo dropping trials and operational parameters for the Hampden. So as an expedient Sir Hugh Suggested that some if not all new Hampdens be built fitted for torpedo dropping and allocated to Maritime Air Command until more suitable strike aircraft could be procured. Also of note was that the Beaufighter was currently undergoing trials at Gosport as a torpedo carrier and the certification for fitting rockets to the same aircraft would soon be completed. These developments had led to a request from the AOC Maritine Command for an allocation of Beaufighters as a strike aircraft as soon as was viable, As CAS Sir Hugh had endorsed this request and after further consultation with Sir Phillip, he had also confirmed that the priority with the MAP for LRMPA for Maritime Command.

The Royal Canadian Air Force were providing aircraft where possible. Most notably a Squadron of Supermarine Stranraer aircraft currently flying from bases in Nova Scotia. Other Canadian maritime squadrons were being raised. The obsolescent Stranraer aircraft would be replaced by the Consolidated Catalina seaplane as they became available.



Maritime command Order of Battle as of November 1st 1940


1 November 1940

No. 15 Group RAF (GR), under command of Air Commodore R.G. Parry, DSO

Squadron Type of Aircraft Station

No. 48 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Hooton Park

No. 209 Squadron RAF Blackburn B20 RAF Pembroke Dock

No. 217 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF St Eval

No. 236 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF St Eval

No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Carew Cheriton

No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron RAF Short Stirling RAF Aldergrove

No. 10 Squadron RAAF Short Sunderland RAF Pembroke Dock

No. 16 Group RAF (GR), under command of Air Vice Marshal J.H.S. Tyssen, CB, DSO[10]

Squadron Type of Aircraft Station

No. 22 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF North Coates

No. 53 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Detling

No. 59 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Thorney Island

No. 206 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Bircham Newton

No. 220 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Thornaby

No. 235 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Bircham Newton

No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Detling

No. 608 (North Riding) Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Thornaby



No. 17 Group RAF , under command of Air Commodore T.E.B. Howe, CBE, AFC[10]

Squadron Type of aircraft Station

Torpedo Training Unit Bristol Blenheim RAF Abbotsinch

No. 2 Operational Training Unit Bristol Blenheim/Avro Anson RAF Catfoss

No. 3 Operational Training Unit various RAF Chivenor

No. 1 Coast Artillery Co-operation Unit Bristol Blenheim RAF Detling

No. 2 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit various RAF Gosport

No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF various RAF Silloth

No. 3 School of General Reconnaissance De Haviland Flamingo RAF Squires Gate

No. 4 Operational Training Unit various RAF Stranraer



No. 18 Group RAF (GR), under command of Air Vice Marshal C.D. Breese, CB, AFC

Squadron Type of Aircraft Station

No. 42 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufort RAF Wick

No. 98 Squadron RAF Short Stirling RAF Kaldadarnes

No. 201 Squadron RAF Short Sunderland RAF Sullom Voe

No. 204 Squadron RAF Short Sunderland RAF Sullom Voe

No. 210 Squadron RAF Short Sunderland RAF Oban

No. 224 Squadron RAF Lockheed Hudson RAF Leuchars

No. 233 Squadron RAF Lockheed Hudson RAF Leuchars

No. 240 Squadron RAF Blackburn B20 RAF Stranraer

No. 248 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Dyce

No. 254 Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Dyce

No. 320 (Dutch) Squadron RAF Blackburn B20 RAF Reykavick

No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron RAF De Haviland Flamingo RAF Dyce



No. 200 Group RAF (Coastal), under command of Group Captain A.D. Rogers, CBE, AFC

Squadron Type of Aircraft Station

No. 202 Squadron RAF Blackburn B20 RAF Gibraltar



As off this time Maritime Command has thirty two operational squadrons and six OTU’s
Sir Phillip and the Air Ministry were only too well aware that Maritime Command would need many more squadrons to fulfil all the tasks expected of it.

 

[AlanJWhite]

Easiest fixes are existing aircraft in wrong bases e.g.

No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron RAF Short Stirling RAF Aldergrove

A Long-range land base maritime patrol from Manchester?

add them to

No. 98 Squadron RAF Short Stirling RAF Kaldadarnes

ASAP

 

[AlanJWhite]

What was immediately apparent to Sir Hugh was the lack of offensive aircraft to carry out attacks on enemy shipping, whilst all the patrol aircraft were armed this was primarily with anti submarines weapons.

Hint that separate commands are needed for COASTAL Strike and Maritime Patrol?
(sometimes sharing an airfield - with added Fighter Defence Squadrons if appropriate)

 

[sonofpegasus]

From official RAF bases History.

'RAF Aldergrove first opened in 1918 but was not designated as an operational RAF station until 1925. Aldergrove’s location made it an important station during the Second World War of RAF Coastal Command in the Battle of the Atlantic. From the base long range reconnaissance aircraft were able to patrol the Eastern Atlantic for U-Boats.'

Last Time I looked Aldergrove RAF base was in Ulster! So at the moment I will keep 502 where they are!

 

[AlanJWhite]

From official RAF bases History.

'RAF Aldergrove first opened in 1918 but was not designated as an operational RAF station until 1925. Aldergrove’s location made it an important station during the Second World War of RAF Coastal Command in the Battle of the Atlantic. From the base long range reconnaissance aircraft were able to patrol the Eastern Atlantic for U-Boats.'

Last Time I looked Aldergrove RAF base was in Ulster! So at the moment I will keep 502 where they are!

mea culpa .. I was confusing it with Ringway

that said .. STILL the wrong place to reduce the size/effect of the Black Pit in 1940/1

Let alone block the Nazi Surface Fleet exit routes.

Aside: in 42 bases in Canada were vital, given the USNs idiocy about ASW and convoys
but the real answer was earlier organic ASW in the convoys by MACs and air support in the escort groups by CVEs
(which are not part of the Air Ministry remit - directly)

 

[Driftless]

An oddity: I believe the British also had the historic use af a few (3-4?) He-115 floatplanes from the Norwegians. As far as I know, they were only used in some SOE missions, for fear of friendly fire.

 

[Thoresby]

that said .. STILL the wrong place to reduce the size of the Black Pit in 1940/1

Short of invading Eire it's the best bet. North American convoys were mainly routed north of Ireland after the fall of France to make it more difficult for the Luftwaffe which means Ulster is the ideal place for your planes. Bases in Cornwall were less useful for escort and mainly used for harassing u-boots in the Bay of Biscay.

 

[AlanJWhite]

Short of invading Eire it's the best bet. North American convoys were mainly routed north of Ireland after the fall of France to make it more difficult for the Luftwaffe which means Ulster is the ideal place for your planes. Bases in Cornwall were less useful for escort and mainly used for harassing u-boots in the Bay of Biscay.

I suggested Iceland which as the map I supplied shows covers the very routes you mentioned better than Ulster
(even with the Donegal Corridor in action)

And totally agree the Bay itself is also less than ideal
.. except that it's the only place many of the planes available in 1940 - 42 could reach

Even allowing for those limitations, IMHO the OTL RAF had far too much of a "patrol and kill UBs" mindset and not enough "escort and defend the merchantmen" mentality. Let's hope the "Peerless AM" can fix that!

However, apart from making better use of whatever Liberators the British can get, the best solutions to the UBs are Fleet Air Arm issues not RAF. And the FAA , let alone the ASW FAA, has not been a major theme in the PAM saga to date.
(Not surprising since FC needs improvement to be ready for the BoB in 1940 .
And Army support is next
and BC after that to be fit for its offensive from 42 onwards)

 

[sonofpegasus]

In the PAM. Stirling VLRMPA are already operating out of Iceland and Northern Ireland to help give continuous cover to convoys on the northern convoy route.The next step will be basing the same aircraft in Newfoundland.

 

[sonofpegasus]

11. 12. Sheep dogs do not have to kill wolves

The Blackburn B20 Buccaneer was lying moored to a buoy in Reykjavik harbour as the RAF launch sped towards it, the aircrew huddled in the cabin sheltering from the biting wind conversed as well as they could in their native Dutch, over the roar of the launches engines. Ahead of them sat the Blackburn B-20 flying boat of three twenty (Dutch) squadron RAF with it’s distinctive hydraulically retractable central hull float and the vertical ‘stickleback’ aerials of the ASV RDF system on top of the fuselage. Within minutes the launch was alongside the pontoon float as the launch’s crew used boat hooks to hold it in place. The aircraft crew quickly disembarked from the tender onto the aircraft pontoon, walked forward and climbed the ladder under the cockpit, below which was painted the aircraft/s name; ‘Notenkraker’.
As the launch stood by a few yards away the crew sorted themselves out and prepared to start the two big H24 Fairey Monarch engines. With both engines running and the counter rotating propellers now nothing more than a dark whirling blur, the front gunner-bomb aimer scrambled down the ladder and cast off the buoy before scurrying hurriedly back up into the fuselage. After the pilot had waited for the aircraft to drift clear of the mooring, he slowly opened both throttles and taxied the seaplane towards the tender. The coxswain of the tender led the aircraft out into the harbour, to that section used for take offs. Opening the launches throttles the coxswain took the tender down the take of run whilst all hands on deck scrutinised the water for flotsam and jetsam or any other obstruction that might impede or even cause serious damage to the big aircraft. As the launch got far enough away to clear the take off run, a green flare was fired to signal the all clear and to also warn all other craft that an aeroplane was about to take off.

With both throttles wide open the B20 surged forward in a burst of spray that receded as she rose onto the step and planed across the water. Even with a full load the aircraft was soon airborne and the float was retracted back up to the fuselage where it was locked in place. Climbing steadily the aircraft headed almost due south for the long run out to the patrol area.
With a cruising speed of two hundred and fifty miles an hour and a top speed of over three hundred miles an hour the advantage of the aircraft's design was evident. Today’s patrol would take them some five hundred miles out into the Atlantic where they would fly a patrol pattern around an out bound slow convoy for four hours before turning back for the long run home. The engineer would have a busy time of it, transferring fuel from tank to tank or changing which tanks were being used to keep the trim of the aircraft within reasonable limits.
Later as the aircraft got lighter and they arrived at their patrol area the engineer would be shutting down one side of each engine in turn to conserve fuel, which is why either the mid upper gunner or the tail gunner would give him a spell from time to time. As they approached their assigned search area the crew settled down to their tasks with the Navigators constantly updating the dead reckoning position on the chart, the radio operator scanning the convoy frequencies and the RDF operator watching for returns upon his oscilloscope screen. Meanwhile all the gunners would be scanning the water and horizon with their binocular, looking for those things that the RDF could not spot, wreckage, oil, life rafts and ships boats even, or the wake of a submarine.
This far north in November the days were incredibly short, so daylight was not to be wasted, later as darkness encompassed the crew they would have to rely upon the unseen magic of the RDF in their hunt for the elusive u-boats. The young Dutch RDF operator sat in front of the cathode ray screen of the ASV MkII LR set as the aircraft climb away from Iceland and tuned the set using the shipping around the harbour as targets to adjust the gain and other settings, first using the forward antenna to search for a target ahead in the aircraft’s track, soon he had got a response on the Cathode ray screen, A spike appeared on the left hand side of the axis line that went vertically up the screen from the sea clutter at the base line, This afternoons sea conditions were good so the sea clutter was nor swamping the screen and the target was acquired at a good range. Measuring up from the base line the operator calculated the range at close to nine thousand yards. On the intercom the RDF operator asked the skipper if he had a small steamer or warship fine on his port bow. With the aircraft now climbing gently at one hundred and eighty miles an hour it would take barely more than a minute and a half reach the target. The pilot confirmed that they were overtaking an out bound corvette so the RDF operator responded that he would now calibrate the side scanning aerials. On either side of the fuselage were a set of transmitter aerials and along the dorsal crest of the fuselage a single set of receiving aerials on aerodynamically shaped posts. It was these support posts that gave this system its nickname ‘Stickleback’, when their instructors had told him where the name came from the RDF operator had thought that it was typically British.
With the side scan turned on the transmission of the one point five meter waveband alternated from one side of the aircraft to the other, sending pulses out capable of detecting a ship to a range of twenty or thirty miles but really only capable of detecting a surfaced submarine at around ten miles. As he adjusted the dials the young man mused over how important those figures were, for as they flew around a convoy at a range of ten miles they searched a perimeter twenty miles wide around it, theoretically that was wider than a surfaced submarine could cross before the aircraft completed the circle and made another sweep. He also thought the this ASV MkII LR, the LR standing for long range as it had an improved transmitter with a more powerfully output than previous sets, was also easier to maintain as it was split into separate sender and receiver units unlike the monolithic mark one sets he had trained on. Though still marvelling at the ingenuity and skill of the British scientists who had created this electronic marvel the young Dutchman felt a surge of pride when he thought of the Phillips valves made in his hometown of Eindhoven which made the whole apparatus possible. Having got the RDF set calibrated the young man settled down for long hours of concentration upon the little glowing oscilloscope screen.

After four hours circling the slow moving convoy, the skipper turned the aircraft north for the long flight back to base. Nothing had been seen by the crew except the occasional reading of the distant convoy on the RDF screen but they knew that their very presence over the convoy was an important part of their task in securing it’s safety.

The aircraft the Dutch crew was flying in was not the aircraft that Blackburn had first designed, when specification R. 1/36 was first issued for a seaplane capable of cruising at over two hundred and thirty miles an hour most companies declined think that the range and speed requirement was unobtainable. Saunders Roe’s response was to design a conventional deep hulled monoplane but fit it with the two most powerful engines that they could, Despite much promise the ‘Lerwick’, as the aircraft was called, had proved absolutely awful and virtually un-flyable, leading to its immediate cancellation. Blackburn had developed their hybrid design that was half flying boat and half float plane, when compared to the slab sided Lerwick or the bigger short Sunderland, the Blackburn B20 looked like a motor coach beside a double-decker bus.
In fact in the wind tunnel tests carried out by Blackburn had shown that their design exhibited a fuselage drag some twenty five percent less than the conventional designs proposed. To further reduce drag the wing floats had been designed to fold up and form end plates on the wings. The first prototype had been built fitted for but without both the front and dorsal gun turrets. Also at the design stage the two Rolls Royce Vulture engines of the original proposal which delivered a combined three thousand four hundred and forty horse power had been exchanged for two heavier but more powerful Fairey Monarch engines delivering a combined four thousand horse power. The increase of around twenty percent in the horse power of the engines had more than offset the extra weight. The first prototype, despite some early problems with ere
aireolong balance and flutter had proved to be very quick and nimble, however the second prototype had lost significant performance due to the increase in drag caused by the fore turret and particularly the dorsal turret. The dorsal turret also caused another issue due to the need for the vertical aerial array for the ASV RDF set interfering with the firing arcs, After much correspondence with the AM and further testing all subsequent production B-20’s were built with a single MG on a ball mount in the nose and removable MG mounts either side of the fuselage in lieu of the dorsal turret, the four gun rear turret was retained. The main offensive armament carried were eight two hundred and fifty pound depth charges in the wing bomb cells. The aircraft the Dutch crew were flying had as always suffered an increase of weight due to extra operational equipment being fitted, again however the performance loss had been mitigated by the use of one hundred octane fuel raising the engine power by about ten percent.

Just days ago the skipper and crew had stood and watched as the first of the big new Stirling LRMPA’s of ninety eight squadron flew into the newly completed air base at RAF Kaladarnes. They knew that these big aircraft with their very long range and many hours endurance would be a very significant part of providing what was planned as a continuous air cover over the Atlantic convoys. Over the last few weeks as the winter nights had got longer the success of the U-boats now sailing from bases in western France had increased till alarming number of ships were being sunk. Here now with the B-20’s, Sunderland’s, Stirling’s and Flamingos being operated in ever increasing number was a tangible response to that threat. So far the aircraft of Three twenty Squadron had twice made visual or RDF contact with a U-Boat but both attacks had proved unsuccessful. However the crews were honing their skills all the time and were confident it was only a matter of time and perseverance until they managed to sink a U-boat.

The Young Dutch RDF operator had every intention of getting a tour of one of the Stirlings of Ninety Squadron as soon as he could. He had heard on the grape vine that they were fitted with the very latest 0.25m waveband ASV sets and he really wanted to see what the fuss was about.

 

[Crowbar Six]

An oddity: I believe the British also had the historic use af a few (3-4?) He-115 floatplanes from the Norwegians. As far as I know, they were only used in some SOE missions, for fear of friendly fire.

At least one made it to the Med. In To War in a Stringbag, Charles Lamb RN flew a mission for SOE to drop off an asset, if something went wrong (which it did) his extraction was supposed to be via HE115 operating out of Malta. He was grabbed by the Vichy French before he reached the rendezvous but the HE115 was lost on the way back to Malta. Lamb assumed it was a captured Luftwaffe plane but it seems likely it may have been one of the Norwegian ones.

 

[Colin Haggett]

The RAAF took over a number of Netherlands Dornier 24s and conscripted a number of Junkers aircraft from Papua New Guinea including at least one each of: Junkers G31, W34d & W34f.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

Snip

Order of Battle of RAF Maritime Command at 02/11/40 tidied up.

I didn't include the second-line units in No. 17 (Training) Group.

This is a summary.

 

[Mark1878]

Order of Battle of RAF Maritime Command at 02/11/40 tidied up.

View attachment 571372​

I didn't include the second-line units in No. 17 (Training) Group.

This is a summary.

View attachment 571371​

Hmm no Ansons